Sandalwood drug case: ED to question Ragini Dwivedi, Sanjjanaa Galrani and 3 others in prison

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Sep 25, 2020:   Kannada actresses Sanjjana Galrani, Ragini Dwivedi and others will be questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in central prison Bengaluru. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has been granted permission by the Special Court for NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) cases to question the five accused in the Sandalwood drug racket. This is under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PML Act).

 

The NDPS court on Thursday (September 24) granted permission to question the accused in the Bengaluru Central Prison for five days.

The ED will now record written statements of Ragini Dwivedi, Archana Galrani alias Sanjjanaa Galrani, Rahul Thonse, Virender Khanna and Ravishankar.

The ED in its petition submitted to the court wrote that the offence was examined and then it came to the conclusion that there appeared to be a prima facie case of money laundering under Section 3 of the PML Act. Hence, an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) was registered on September 9 and a probe was initiated.

The ED stated, "For the purpose of investigation, it is necessary to record the statements of the respondents. Their written statements are very much essential for the money-laundering investigation which is admissible evidence before the court."

The ED’s report started that, "Preliminary enquiry revealed that a huge amount of proceeds of crime are involved in money laundering activities. The accused were arrested by the CCB as they were found to be in possession of drugs/psychotropic substances which were beyond the permissible limits at their residences and also financing illicit traffic of drugs along with huge proceeds of crime."

Courtesy:India Today